Distraction

We recently went into central London, hoping for a lovely evening of strolling around looking at the beautiful lights, soaking up a festive atmosphere and finishing with a lovely cocktail in a quiet bar.

In reality, it was a nightmare! The crowds were ridiculous. There were way too many people to be able to walk with ease. There was a constant “dodging” going on. The lights were poor and every bar and pub we went to was rammed and noisy. It was very disappointing.

We changed our plans and headed to the river, hoping for a pub along the way. They were all too full. Until, peering down a quiet alleyway with no lights we spotted a bar that looked closed! Except it wasn’t. They just hadn’t put the outside lights on. We chanced it, and found a lovely bar, a quiet table, good food and beer. The evening was redeemed.

On the way home I reflected on how every human participant could have easily missed the beauty of the moment in the stable. For each, there were brighter lights to be enjoyed elsewhere.

But these guests. Shepherd and Magi (who were only momentarily distracted) had enough about them to look for the unexpected. Stars were followed and angels wondered at. Eventually He was found. In a stable and in poverty.

Isaiah 53:2 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire him.

Lord, forgive our easy distraction. Our measured responses.

Help us to see you, and to welcome you, in all your heavenly spleandour.

Immensity

So far we have thought about advent from the perspective of the OT. When we were BC people. Our lives before Christ. Then, we reflected on the world-wide spread of the promise of salvation. It came to the “east” with the magi, and to us, through seed of promise given thousands of years before.

Christmas day now draws near, and we can imagine the various participants beginning to gather.

The fore runner, John the Baptist, then Matry and Joseph.

Shepherd and Magi. Each in turn will hear and receive the annunciation that transforms their lives. Each will respond with faith.

John Donne’s poem “Annunciation” is helpful.

Salvation to all that will is nigh;

That All, which always is all everywhere,

Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,

Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die.

This is an abbreviated extract. I recommend reading the poem in its entirety.

The poem begins by reminding us that these annunciations are for us too. We are the “all” that Donne imagines. It is our salvation that drew near. No sooner has this universal proclamation been made, that includes us within it, than its direction expands again. The “All” of the second line is capitalised.

“That “All” which always is all everywhere”. The God that is All, omnipresent, omniscient, immense, is everywhere.

It is worth reminding ourselves of this beautiful inclusion, this immense universal truth, the All, that reaches from heaven, comes to and for us.

Donne tells us once again of the great work to be done. “All sins to bear”.

He then finished the poem with this beautiful phrase. “Immensity, cloistered in thy dear womb”.

God, in flesh, in Mary.

Prayer

Lord, we come with eager anticipation of all that the day of days brings.

We renew within ourselves a vision for your perfect kingdom.

We confess our failures and shortcomings, seeking your pardon for those sins that frustrate your kingdom purposes. We receive the grace of your forgiveness, with humility, into our hearts.

We enter this day with gladness, that the immensity that is you, is present in us.

Guide us Lord we pray, in love, light and peace.

Amen.

Seed

Ezekiel was a prophet. In his writing we are told of a promise. Sown like “seed”. The people had no doubt of its fulfilment, but it was yet to come.

Ezekiel 17:22 tells us that God will take shoot from the top of a ceder tree will be broken off and planted. In time it will grow to become the largest of trees. It will be fruitful, and birds of every kind will find shelter in its branches.

This image was understood to describe the unlikely emergence of the kingdom of God, perhaps initially unrecognised, but in time a promise of shelter and peace for all peoples. The scripture finished with this certainty, “I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it”. And in Christ Jesus, He did.’

I’m sure we can all think of times when imaginary stories, myths, legends, novels or films have suddenly awoken our minds to important truths. The imagination allows us to grasp the whole, the meaning, the wider sense of something that familiarity and reason obscure.

This picture, of sprig, becoming the largest of trees, with shelter for all, is the work of Gods imagination within Ezekiel. It seeded hope and prayer for something yet to come, that will be eternal. Through it, and other images, they hoped for a saviour, for a kingdom.

Isaiah described it like this. Chapter 9: 6

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

And of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.

Such expansive, hopeful thought, from prayerful imagination. Such an important aspect of Advent. This child to be born, not just a child, but saviour, rescuer, protector, eternal.

Prayer

Find 5 minutes of quiet. Allow your imagination to shape dreams and hopes of what Jesus can do in your family and lives. Imagine, and pray.

East

In this second week, we remember the seeds of promise that came, long before the birth of Christ. This birth, this gift, was clearly Gods intention from long, long before that first Christmas. And it was for all people.

Our advent celebrations are often very “western”. Life is still preoccupied with busy work, school and social diaries. Christmas shopping dominates and chocolates enjoyed each morning with the opening of “another window”!

All very western.

Recently I came across this clip on Instagram. The music is eastern. It has depth and power. It is brooding. It could well be played over the earliest of scripture, “Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit hovered over the waters”. Birth, creation, was yet to come.

It feels “eastern”, and it reminds me that part of the Advent story, came from the east. Matthew 2:1-2. After Jesus was born, during the time of Herod, Magi came from the east”. We are told they had been following his star.

The sense of promise, also came, outside the community of Israel.

I wonder how long these Magi had been travelling. Possibly months! How long had they been searching for signs, talking around campfires, hoping. How deeply was this sense of hope, entrenched into their communities. Over thousands of years, generations had searched.

The Magi would have started their journey, long before Mary and Joseph started theirs. It reminds us of this. That the promise of God, stretches back to the beginning of time, and to all points on the compass. Jesus is a worldwide gift. Salvation is for all. For God so loved the world, that He gave His son.

Prayer

Listen to the music again

Lord, thank you. That your love extends to all your creation.

Imagine everyone that you will meet with today. Pray for them. Offer thanks, that Gods love extends to them also.

Feast

In early church tradition, a feast is often preceded by a fast. The 40 day “fast” of Lent is our most obvious example.

With this in mind, the early church developed a tradition of praying seven great prayers known as the O Antiphons. Each prayer called on Christ to come, but only addressed Him according to titles found in the Old Testament.

They refrained from using the term Christ or Lord, as a kind of fast. By doing so they momentarily placed themselves BC. In that place of darkness and waiting. They reimagined what they most needed, BC. A gift of wisdom, a saviour, a light, a root, a flame. Looking though the OT, all these things were promised in the coming Christ, and used as titles to describe His gift. O Wisdom, O Root, O Light , each, for example, found in Isaiah, reminded them of the “need”, of their lives, and what they eventually found in Christ Jesus. On Christmas day, the fast was broken. Christ Jesus, whose name they whispered, sang or proclaimed on Christmas day, as if for the first time. Then they would pray, O Emmanuel. Emanuel, come Lord Jesus. Fill this heart, with wisdom, light, root and flame.

What a feast that would be.

Prayer

Be still. Cast your mind back to an earlier life. Before Christ. Remember who we were and what we needed. Mostly we needed a saviour. But also, wisdom, security, understanding.

Offer thanks, for the life and gift of these things, that His presence brings.

Make today a day of fast! Pray, but refrain from using the name of Jesus. Jesus, Lord, Saviour, God, all become silent in our thoughts. Allow your deepest need, to shape your address to God.

Dark.

We begin this advent season, with a well-known scripture.

Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Our problem is that there is, at least in cities, less and less darkness. We live amid brightly lit shop windows, trees already decorated and twinkling, numerous school productions and social gatherings. They are all very lovely and beautiful. But sometimes, to truly appreciate light, we need to see it from a place of darkness.

Of course, light comes in many forms. Electric bulb, candle, even a congestion of information that we describe as enlightenment. We often have too much of our own manufactured light. And that sometimes obscures our view.

How can we, in this Advent season, focus on that great light that is coming, when our lives are so well lit.

Value darkness. Use it. Find a place where, just for a moment, we stand outside the light. The Isaiah verse reminds us that from that place, the light that we see from afar, is then described as “great”.

Remember life BC in your life. This is Advent. To stand in the Old Testament, as BC people. Using our imagination, momentarily remembering what life was like, before we knew Christ, before the great light brightened our hearts. As we imagine ourselves once again in that place of wanting and waiting, we look for His coming. We look for the great light, that lightens all things.

Prayer

(Take a moment to breath. Be still. Allow the Holy Spirit to come and find pace with your breath)

The child waiting to be born, demands a response. For God so loved the world, that He sent His son, to bring light to our darkness.

You Lord are our Lamp. You brighten our darkness. Your Word is a lamp to our feet. You bring light to our path, our lives.

We are thankful. Once again, we pray, “come, saviour of the world. Bring your light. Lighten our darkness”.

Amen.